Psychological testing and therapeutic game device

ABSTRACT

A game fostering the telling of a story based on word stimuli. A spinner is divided into pie-shaped wedges of various colors and markings. Spinning the pointer selects a wedge. Certain wedges correspond to a first set of cards each of which provide a set of words in any one card of the first set tending to evoke the same primary emotion. Other spinner wedges correspond to a second set of cards having words that tend to evoke significant primary emotions; each of the words in any one card of the second set referring to a different significant primary emotion. The words on the cards are used as a jumping off point for storytelling, answering questions about the story told and dramatizing the story. Intermediate awards are given for each storytelling. Intermediate rewards during the game and more concrete rewards at the end of the game enhance the game feature and provide an incentive for storytelling and fantasizing.

United States Patent 1 1 Kritzberg 1 1 PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING AND THERAPEUTIC GAME DEVICE [75] Inventor: Nathan I. Kritzberg, Tenafly, NJ.

[73] Assignee: Psychotherapeutic Devices, Inc.,

New York, NY.

[22] Filed: Dec. 14, I973 [21] Appl. No.: 424,683

[52] US. Cl. 273/] R; 35/22 R; 273/141 R [51] Int. Cl. A63f 9/00 [58] Field of Search 273/] R, 1 E, 1 M, 134 C,

273/134 E, 139, 141 R; 35/22 R [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,714,546 5/1929 Caldon et a1 273/134 E 2,557,583 6/1951 Vitalc 273/134 C 2,861,809 11/1958 Fischl 273/141 R 3,484,106 12/1969 Foley et a1. 273/134 C X 3,722,885 7/1971 Leaf 273/1 R 3,779,557 12/1973 Kritzberg et a1. 35/22 R X Primary ExaminerPau1 E. Shapiro Attorney, Agent, or FirmRyder, McAulay, Fields, Fisher & Goldstein 1 June 24, 1975 5 7 ABSTRACT A game fostering the telling of a story based on word stimuli. A spinner is divided into pie-shaped wedges of various colors and markings. Spinning the pointer selects a wedge. Certain wedges correspond to a first set of cards each of which provide a set of words in any one card of the first set tending to evoke the same pri mary emotion. Other spinner wedges correspond to a second set of cards having words that tend to evoke significant primary emotions; each of the words in any one card of thesecond set referring to a different significant primary emotion. The words on the cards are used as a jumping off point for storytelling, answering questions about the story told and dramatizing the story. Intermediate awards are given for each storytelling. Intermediate rewards during the game and more concrete rewards at the end of the game enhance the game feature and provide an incentive for storytelling and fantasizing.

10 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING AND THERAPEUTIC GAME DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention in general relates to psychological therapy, and more particularly to a game type of device particularly adapted to be employed with children in evoking meaningful and effective storytelling.

In the process of psychological therapy, and in particular with children, it is known to employ a free play situation in order to evoke fantasy which may be a partial basis for analysis and therapy. The fantasizing that re sults from known techniques tends to be narrow in range and difficult to use in therapy. The major purpose of this invention is to provide a more fruitful fantasy evocation.

It is a further purpose of this invention to provide a context, within which the fantasy evocation occurs, that is amenable to further processing by the therapist. In particular, it is a purpose of this invention to permit the therapist to make inquiry, concerning the fantasy evoked, in a fashion that has a minimum likelihood of freezing the fantasy evocation. It is desired that the therapist inquiry be viewed as part of the fantasy evocation process rather than as a third degree.

It is a further purpose of this invention to provide a specific repeatable, though broad, context within which the fantasy evocation arises so that patterns of fantasy evocation can be observed and some relationship can be drawn to model responses.

It is another purpose of this invention to provide a technique to achieve relevant fantasy evocation in a manner that is an efficient use of the therapists time.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In brief, this invention is in a game played by patient and therapist. The game includes the telling of a story based on word stimuli. A spinner is employed that is divided into pie-shaped wedges of various colors and markings. In one embodiment, there are eight wedges; specifically, three red, two green, one yellow, one marked SA and one marked free story. In addition, there is a set of green cards and a set of yellow cards. Each card in each set has a number of words listed thereon. The words are selected for their ability to evoke relevant emotional feelings. On each yellow card, all of the words tend to evoke the same significant primary emotion. The words on separate yellow cards tend to evoke different significant primary emotions. By contrast, each green card contains words that tend to evoke different significant primary emotions. More particularly, each green card contains at least one word from each of 14 separate evocation categories.

During play, the green and yellow sets of cards are both placed in an upside-down position in front of the players. The players successively spin a pointer attached to the spinner. If the pointer lands on a red wedge, the play passes to the next player. If the pointer lands on a green wedge, the player picks the top green card from the set of upside-down green cards and receives a two gold star award if he makes up a story about or using any one of the words listed on that card. If the pointer lands on the yellow wedge, the player picks the top yellow card and gets two gold stars if he makes up a story about or using any one of the words on the yellow card selected. If the pointer lands on the wedge marked SA, the player spins the pointer again.

If the pointer lands on the free story wedge, the player gets two gold stars for telling any story that comes to mind. Enhanced results and greater depth of analysis can be obtained by awarding additional gold stars for answering questions about the story told. Still further results can be obtained by providing additional gold stars for dramatizing part or all of the story told.

At the end of a playing session, the player with the most gold stars is awarded a prize and is deemed a winner or the gold stars are turned in at a certain trade-in rate for trinkets.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Other objects and purposes of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description and drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a representation of the spinner employed in a first embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a representation of the set of green cards used in connection with the FIG. I spinner, showing the legend on one of the cards.

FIG. 3 is a representation of the set of yellow cards used in connection with the FIG. I spinner, showing the legend on one of the cards.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in the FIGS., there is a spinner board 10 having a spinable pointer 12 mounted at its center. If the pointer is spun by a player, it will come to rest at some random angular position which can be anywhere within the 360 of the circle provided by the pie-shaped wedges on the board 10. In the embodiment illustrated, there are three red wedges 14, two green wedges 16, one yellow wedge 18, one wedge 20 marked with the designation SA and, finally, one wedge 22 marked with the designation double reward for free story. The player spins the pointer 12 by flicking it with his finger and then, depending upon where the arrowhead of the pointer 12 lands, the player undertakes various further steps. I

In one embodiment, if the pointer lands on a red wedge 14, the player misses his turn. If the pointer lands on a green wedge 16, the player picks one of the cards in a green set of cards 24 and follows the direction thereon; which is that he gets two gold stars if he makes up a story about or using any one of the words listed on that card. If the pointer lands on the yellow wedge 18, the player selects one of the cards from a yellow set 26 and follows the instructions thereon; which is that he gets two gold stars if he makes up a story about or using any one of the words listed thereon. These two sets of cards 24 and 26, during play, are placed upside-down in front of the players. The top card is picked so that the player who picks the card does not know what words are on the card until after he has selected it. If the pointer lands on the SA wedge 20, the player spins again. If the pointer lands on the free story wedge 22, the player gets two gold stars if he tells a story of any sort that comes to his mind.

This invention appears to be most apt for the testing and the therapy of children who can read at a relatively simple level and who feel comfortable with written words. The age rangeof'applicability is approximately from 7 to 13.

The words contained on the green cards 24 and on the yellow cards 26 are words that tend to stimulate significant emotional feelings and responses. These words, with perhaps one or two exceptions, are carefully selected to be emotionally loaded. These words, which are listed below, tend to evoke elements of significant primary emotions as well as elements of commonplace complexes.

There are 14 yellow cards. Eachyellow card contains a cluster of words which relate to or evoke one of the following significant primary emotions. The fourteen yellow cards in one embodiment consist of the following fourteen clusters of words:

1. Orality; that is, dependent orientation. This category is represented by the words candy, cookie, milk, bread, nurse, cow, poor, hungry, tooth, yell, scold, nag, steal, pig, hen.

2. Anality; that is, anal retentive or explosive orientation. This category is represented by the words dirty, mess, smell, pig, money, wet, slob, stink, fire.

3. Sado-masochistic orientation. This category is represented by the words gun, shoot, knife, sword, cruel, mean, kill, blood, beat, hate, hurt, sick, torn, punish, cripple.

4. Authoritarian orientation. This category is represented by the words principal, teacher, witch, monster, cop, king, judge, slave, queen, boss, servant, leader.

5. Super-ego conflict derivatives. This category is represented by the words bad, love, ashamed, like, punish, sorry, wrong, guilty, worry, witch, shy, God, evil, devil, bashful.

6. Negative or positive identity (self-image) derivatives. This category is represented by the words weak, strong, shy, friendly, scared, afraid, small, ugly, little, pretty, dumb, fool, smart, bashful, hero.

7. Derivatives of concern with death and/or aging. This category is represented by the words die, dead, alone, lonely, weep, old, tired, worn-out, sad.

8. Narcissistic; that is, exhibitionistic orientation. This category is represented by the words bare, naked, beautiful, beast, pretty, ugly, shy, ashamed, skinny, proud, vain, sexy, handsome, fat, bashful.

9. Derivatives of concern with reproduction and/or generativity. This category is represented by the words egg, newborn, acorn, baby, mother, father, hen, pregnant, grow, chicks, stork, puppies, birth, seed, sex.

10. Representatives of affective states or emotional tone. This category is represented by the words sad,

i cry, happy, angry, hate, love, mad, worry, sorry, lonely,

scared, ashamed, friendly, lazy, unloved.

ll. Competitive orientation. This category is represented by the words win, lose, best, bottom, strong, fast, champion, weak, average, slow, dun'ce, worst, first, last, top.

12. Derivatives of anti-social or asocial behavior. This category is represented by the words lie, steal, beat, kill, cruel, mean, fire, attack, bully, break, cheat, runaway, trouble, hookey, fight.

13. Representatives of significant objects (persons, animate, inanimate and part-objects). This-category is represented by the words man, lady, girl, boy. mother, father, baby, daughter, pet, finger, foot, doll, toy, tooth, son.

14. Derivatives of fear of and rejecting attitude towards ones own identity; for example, feminine identification in boys, masculine identification in girls, and varied religious identification. This category is represented by the words black, fairy, tomboy, club,

white,-jew. flower, poodle, lipstick. spider, negro, sissy, doll, queer, gate.

In addition to the set of yellow cards 26 described in detail above, there is the set of green cards 24. The purpose of the green cards is to give the player an opportunity to select a significant emotional response with a greater degree of freedom than is permitted with the yellow cards. Thus each green card contains at least one word from each of the above 14 categories or clusters. A useful set of ten green cards 24 contains the following words:

1. Die, weak, fire, monster, worry, pet, bare, best, lose, doll, hungry, mother, gate, like, dirty.

2. Sick, lad, win, black, father, blood, pretty, pig, baby, scold, flower, love, shy, money, slob.

3. ll], mad, gate, cookie, egg, alone, best. principal, smell, wet, sorry, cruel, pretty, daughter, dog.

4. Bashful, white, cop, dead, ashamed, baby, hate, dad, foot, small, stink, wrong, steal, tooth, last.

5. Duck, mess, doll, lady, witch, love, egg, lonely, gun, lie, ugly, first, milk, angry, little.

6. Teacher, cow, knife, sorry, girl, pig, like, mother,

negro, kill, old, hen, naked, candy, dirty.

7. Man, joy, seed, punish, bad, bread, bare, boy, weep, judge, mess, worst, lie, friendly, hurt.

8. Grow, naked, average, finger, cry, principal, strong, sword, nurse, smell, steal, toy, afraid, die, witch.

9. Shoot, seed, win, beat, tooth, poor, happy, like, money, bad, teacher, dead, dumb, pretty, cow.

1O Hate, scared, ugly, lose, fool, alone, fire, man, grow, yell, lady, torn, wrong, judge, jew.

After the story has been completed there are various possibilities open for further therapeutically processing the material. The game sequence up to this point lends itself to various optional therapeutic maneuvers that are initially expressed to the patient as the rules of the game. Experience, judgment and preference will dictate which game plan will be followed.

One useful sequence, after the story has been completed, is to indicate that a further gold star can be obtained by answering a series of questions about the story. The particular questions asked by the therapist will, of course, be analytically oriented questions. These questions may ostensibly be directed to clarify the story but will in addition, provide insight for at least the therapist and perhaps, also for the patient.

A further rule of the game that is possible is to provide another gold star for the players dramatization of the story. This dramatization can be effected with the aid of the other players. These other players may be the therapist and/or other child players when the game is used in a group therapy situation.

Thus, as described above, it is possible to acquire four gold stars for elaborating a story around a selected word, replying to questions about the story, and finally, play-acting a scene or scenes around the incidents in the story. The last two features of the game might be modified or eliminated depending upon the wishes of the therapist.

The advantage of having the red wedges 14, the SA wedge 20 and the free story wedge 22 is that they tend to enhance the game aspect of this invention by providing further variation and by providing it in a randomly selected fashion. Thus, when a player spins the pointer 12 there are any one of five separate results possible. This complicates the nature of the chance the player is taking. -To put it another way, this provides a hierarchy of luck in each turn, certain results of each spin being luckier than others in terms of the goals (awards) of the game. Just as there is more excitement in a'horsc race having a number of horses running, so too there is more excitement and more of a game feeling in having a number of different possibilities for each spin of the pointer 12.

The free story wedge 22 is of further value in providing an open-ended storytelling situation. This openended mode of play can serve to more quickly and more efficiently bring out matters of greatest concern to the patient-player. It provides for the bringing out of matters with the least degree of constraint on the patient. By contrast, the green cards 24 and yellow cards 26 provide a greater degree of constraint. From the point of view of the fourteen psychological categories set forth above, the yellow cards 26provide a greater degree of constraint than do the green cards 24 in that each yellow card is restricted'to a word within one of the fourteen psychological categories whereas each green card 24 has at least one word from each of the fourteen psychological categories. Thus, during the course of play a varying degree of freedom of choice or a varying degree of constraint on the player is provided. This combination of constraint and choice is of value in assuring that a range of emotional ground is covered while at the same time permitting the patient to focus on the emotional matters of greatest concern to him. It is further useful that this combination of constraint and freedom also appears to the patient-player as part of the game aspect of the device.

The player who accumulates the most gold stars during the playing session, usually something under an hour, may be adjudged the winner and given a prearranged award, such as a small toy or trinket. Alternately an incentive award system may be established in which a given number of gold stars are exchanged for a trinket or small toy.

The use of specific concrete rewards. in the form of trinkets given to the child, has certain desirable results. First, the reward is sought by the child and increases the likelihood of the childs entering into the spirit of the game and thus, in effect, being cooperative with the process involved. Perhaps more importantly, the rewards underscore the game-like quality of the process. For the child to view the process as a game is an appreciable factor in gaining the childs active and meaningful participation in the process. In addition, the use of intermediate awards (the gold stars) as part of the inquiry process aids in establishing the inquiry process as part of the overall game process. This fosters acceptance of the inquiry and aids in minimizing the kind of uncooperative reaction that is likely to occur if the child sees the inquiry process as a third degree type inquiry.

It should be noted that the device of this invention is indeed a game device and will be seen as such by the patient. The combination of skill and chance features involved assure that it will be seen as a game device.

The particular wedge operative at each turn of the game is provided on a chance or random basis. Furthermore, the particular green or yellow card selected when a green or yellow wedge is operative is also picked on a chance or random basis. There is, in addition, an element of skill or volition, as contrasted with chance, in those turns where a story is to be told in that the player selects a word from among a group of words on the card selected and further must construct a story about that in order to obtain a gold star award.

Thus, it may be seen that although there is an element of chance in whether or not a card is to be 'selected by a player at any time and a further element of chance as to which card is selected, the card itself provides a more limited player choice of words about which a story is to be told than does the free story wedge 22.

The game aspect can be further enhanced by the fact that certain of the cards need not call for storytelling.

Accordingly, the storytelling itself and the opportunity for intermediate rewards for storytelling is barred during some of the turns.

By a combination of randomly invoking the various means (the means being the cards and the operative wedges) by which storytelling is arrived at,- by providing different degrees of constraint as to player selection of the word on which storytelling is to focus and even by barring storytelling during certain turns the result is a device that is readily perceived as a game and not as a forced inquiry. Both skill and chance enter into the game and into the obtaining of rewards. The primary element of skill is in the ability to tell a story. This combination of skill and chance in varying degrees serves to enhance the game-like aspect of this invention.

What is claimed is:

l. A psychological testing and therapeutic game device adapted to be employed to evoke fantasizing for purposes that include psychological testing and therapy comprising: 1

a first set of cards, each having a first indicia thereon and each card of said first set containing a set of words,

a second set of cards, each having a second indicia and each card of said second set containing a set of words,

a spinner board having a spinable pointer and a plurality of zones, said pointer when at rest designating one of said zones,

a first set of said zones, each having a first indicia thereon corresponding to said first indicia on said first set of cards,

a second set of said zones, each having a second indicia thereon corresponding to said second indicia on said second set of cards,

the predominant portions of the words on said cards of said first and second sets of cards each tending to evoke a significant primary emotion,

said words comprising a plurality of subsets of words, each of the words in any one of said subsets tending to evoke the same primary emotion,

each of said cards in said first set of cards containing at least one word tending to evoke a significant primary emotion, all of said evoking words on any one of said cards of said first set of cards belonging to only one of said subsets,

each of said cards of said second set of cards containing at least one word from each of the sub-sets represented by said first set of cards.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein said sub-sets of words comprise:

a first subset of words relating to orality feelings,

a second sub-set of words relating to anality feelings,

a third sub-set of words relating to sadomasochistic feelings,

a fourth sub-set of words relating to authoritarian feelings,

a fifth sub-set of words relating to super-ego conflict feelings,

a sixth sub-set of words relating to self-image feellngs,

a seventh sub-set of words relating to feelings about aging and death,

an eighth sub-set of words relating to narcissisticexhibitionist feelings,

a ninth sub-set of words relating to feelings concerning reproduction,

a tenth sub-set of words relating to emotional states,

an eleventh sub-set of words relating to competitive feelings,

a twelfth sub-set of words relating to social behavior feelings, and

a thirteenth sub-set of words relating to feelings about ones own identity.

3. The device of claim 2 further comprising:

a fourteenth sub-set of words relating to significant objects to which significant emotions attach.

4. The device of claim 2 further comprising:

a third set of said zones, each having a third unique indicia thereon which may be interpreted as directing that none of said cards be selected.

5. The device of claim 4 further comprising:

a fourth set of said zones, each having a fourth unique indicia thereon which may be interpreted as requiring the selection of any work that comes to the mind of the player.

6. The device of claim 5 further comprising:

a fifth set of said zones, each having a fifth unique indicia thereon which may be interpreted as requiring the pointer to be spun again.

7. The device of claim 2 further comprising:

a fourth set of said zones, each having a fourth unique indicia thereon which may be interpreted as requiring the selection of any word that comes to the mind of the player.

8. The device of claim 1 further comprising:

a third set of said zones, each having a third unique indicia thereon which may be interpreted as directing that none of said cards be selected.

9. The device of claim 1 further comprising:

a fourth set of said zones, each having a fourth unique indicia thereon which may be interpreted as requiring the selection of any word that comes to the mind of the player.

10. The device of claim 1 further comprising:

a fifth set of said zones, each having a fifth unique indicia thereon which may be interpreted as requiring the pointer to be spun again.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE QERTIFICATE 0F CQRRECTION PATENT NO. 1 3 891 209 DATED June 24, 1975 |NVENTOR(S) Nathan I. Kritzberg it is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown beiow:

In the Abstract, at line 5, after "set of words" insert -that tend to evoke a significant primary emotion, all of the words-- gigned and Scaled this twenty-seventh D3) Of April1976 [SEAL] A ttes t: 

1. A psychological testing and therapeutic game device adapted to be employed to evoke fantasizing for purposes that include psychological testing and therapy comprising: a first set of cards, each having a first indicia thereon and each card of said first set containing a set of words, a second set of cards, each having a second indicia and each card of said second set containing a set of words, a spinner board having a spinable pointer and a plurality of zones, said pointer when at rest designating one of said zones, a first set of said zones, each having a first indicia thereon corresponding to said first indicia on said first set of cards, a second set of said zones, each having a second indicia thereon corresponding to said second indicia on said second set of cards, the predominant portions of the words on said cards of said first and second sets of cards each tending to evoke a significant primary emotion, said words comprising a plurality of subsets of words, each of the words in any one of said subsets tending to evoke the same primary emotion, each of said cards in said first set of cards containing at least one word tending to evoke a significant primary emotion, all of said evoking words on any one of said cards of said first set of cards belonging to only one of said subsets, each of said cards of said second set of cards containing at least one word from each of the sub-sets represented by said first set of cards.
 2. The device of claim 1 wherein said sub-sets of words comprise: a first sub-set of words relating to orality feelings, a second sub-set of words relating to anality feelings, a third sub-set of words relating to sado-masochistic feelings, a fourth sub-set of words relating to authoritarian feelings, a fifth sub-set of words relating to super-ego conflict feelings, a sixth sub-set of words relating to self-image feelings, a seventh sub-set of words relating to feelings about aging and death, an eighth sub-set of words relating to narcissistic-exhibitionist feelings, a ninth sub-set of words relating to feelings concerning reproduction, a tenth sub-set of words relating to emotional states, an eleventh sub-set of words relating to competitive feelings, a twelfth sub-set of words relating to social behavior feelings, and a thirteenth sub-set of words relating to feelings about one''s own identity.
 3. The device of claim 2 further comprising: a fourteenth sub-set of words relating to significant objects to which significant emotions attach.
 4. The device of claim 2 further comprising: a third set of said zones, each having a third unique indicia thereon which may be interpreted as directing that none of said cards be selected.
 5. The device of claim 4 further comprising: a fourth set of said zones, each having a fourth unique indicia thereon which may be interpreted as requiring the selection of any work that comes to the mind of the player.
 6. The device of claim 5 further comprising: a fifth set of said zones, each having a fifth unique indicia thereon which may be interpreted as requiring the pointer to be spun again.
 7. The device of claim 2 further comprising: a fourth set of said zones, each having a fourth unique indicia thereon which may be interpreted as requiring the selection of any word that comes to the mind of the player.
 8. The device of claim 1 further comprising: a third set of said zones, each having a third unique indicia thereon which may be interpreted as directing that none of said cards be selected.
 9. The device of claim 1 further comprising: a fourth set of said zones, each having a fOurth unique indicia thereon which may be interpreted as requiring the selection of any word that comes to the mind of the player.
 10. The device of claim 1 further comprising: a fifth set of said zones, each having a fifth unique indicia thereon which may be interpreted as requiring the pointer to be spun again. 